“The Arab Spring - 10 Years On: Popular Protests and Political Change in the MENA region” conference organized in cooperation with the Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Cyprus Policy Center (EMU-CPC) and EMU Political Science and International Relations Department was held in EMU. Moderated by EMU Political Science and International Relations Department Head and the chair of EMU-CPC Prof. Dr. Ahmet Sözen, the event hosted Near East University Political Science Department Head Prof. Dr. Nur Köprülü as a guest speaker.
Starting her speech by stating that one of the main questions re-emerging in the post-2011 Arab Uprisings period is to what extent these popular protests and popular calls for political opening will lead to democratization in the Middle East and North Africa region, Prof. Dr. Köprülü added that contrary to the prevailing thought that explains the permanence of authoritarian regimes as a derivative of cultural originality and patriarchy, the Arab Uprisings crossed the threshold of fear and led to a new political activism in the region. Examining the results and effects of the Arab Uprisings, what these protests tell us, why Arab Democracies did not exist, the idea that the regimes did not follow similar paths in the Middle East and North Africa region during the protests and in the following period, Prof. Dr. Köprülü said it was impossible to talk about "Arab Way" as a result. Stating that it is too early to evaluate these movements as an indicator of a "revolutionary transformation" in the region, Prof. Dr. Köprülü, however, pointed out that the fact that there has been a change in the reformulation of "state-society relations" and the definition of "citizenship" cannot be ignored.
